A beautiful short story by Alice McDermott, Gloria is rich with family joy and tragedy; an abundant reminder of the treasure that is our loved ones.

It’s a short, lovely read. Here’s a snippet to tempt you…

“Just then the grandchildren returned to the dining room, moving, as they did in those days, in a chattering scrum. They wanted their sweets. Pumpkin pie and whipped cream and the special caramels Ryan brought down from Baltimore. Courtney, the youngest, climbed easily into Richard’s lap. She was blond and angel-faced, a replica of Jill at that age, the weight of her an embodied memory of that happy time in his life…”

Gloria by Alice McDermott appeared in the Washington Post, November 14, 2014.

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I find myself wondering if people today, with their ear buds, cell phones, and notebooks, all operating simultaneously, will have memories carved from life and living, or will their memories be a collection of selfies – photos of themselves without having seen. I wonder.